• Weekly Weigh-In #4, Phase 2: 199.4 lbs.
• Last Week’s Weigh-In: 200.9 lbs. 
• Gain/loss of: -1.5 lbs.
• Phase 2 Loss: 3.9 lbs.
• Pounds to Go: 9.4 lbs.
• Weight Loss to Date: 97.7 lbs.

Well, those numbers aren’t exactly earth shattering but hey, I’ll take them loss nonetheless!

I feel better about this week’s loss when compared to last week’s weigh-in when, in case you couldn’t tell, I was pretty frustrated. There’s no doubt in my mind that I still won’t reach my goal of 190 lbs. by my birthday but I’m not entirely mad about it. Slow and steady wins the race, and I bit off more than I could chew with that goal.

Remember, too, that my original plan was in this order:

1. 200 lbs. by my 40th birthday (which I met)
2. 100 lbs. lost (not quite there yet)
3. 190 lbs. (whenever I got there)

So as you can see, I skipped a step and tried to speed up things without much success. That’s not the way I had planned so it’s back to Square One. Phase 2 is officially over; I will now focus on being at the 100 lbs. lost mark and then reaching 190 lbs.

Ah, exercise. I chose not to do my 30+ minutes of the treadmill last night because, quite simply, I needed a break (as we all do). I have been on the thing each night for at least 30 minutes and last night I was just too tired to do it and on Monday night, I think I pushed myself a bit too much and didn’t feel too good when I was done. So I decided to take a break.

As far as the 5k walks go, there’s a chance I might skip the one in a few weeks. Finances are a bit tight and we need the money to take care of other things, so I may bypass this one and work on the next few in March and April. No biggie. But if I do choose to walk, of course you’ll see it here.

And the Disneyland 5k run? Oh, you bet that’s still on!

See you later

• Weekly Weigh-In #3, Phase 2: 200.9 lbs.
• Last Week’s Weigh-In: 202.0 lbs. 
• Gain/loss of: -1.1 lbs.
• Phase 2 Loss: 2.4 lbs.
• Pounds to Go: 10.9 lbs.
• Weight Loss to Date: 96.1 lbs.

The bad news: it’s looking less and less likely that I will be at 190 lbs. by my birthday, so I’m officially lifting that as my goal date. It’s just not happening.

The good news: I ran 5k on the treadmill last night! 

More later…

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• Weekly Weigh-In #2; Phase 2: 202.0 lbs.
• Last Week’s Weigh-In: 202.5 lbs. 
• Gain/loss of: -0.5 lbs.
• Phase 2 Loss: -1.3 lbs.
• Pounds to Go: 12.0 lbs.
• Weight Loss to Date: 95.0 lbs.

As a fella once said, “Ain’t that a kick in the head?”

Needless to say, those numbers are indeed disappointing and I’m beginning to think my scale is getting wiggy on me or something. I can step on it three times and get three different readings–and that ain’t good. And at this rate I will have to shed 4 lbs. per week over the next three weeks in order to meet my goal and you know what? That’s not healthy and I refuse to do it. So while I’ll continue to do the Weigh-Ins, know that there’s a good chance I won’t be at 190 lbs. on the final one. Disappointing, but that’s the way it needs to be.

The good news. I continue to run on the treadmill each night. Perhaps tonight I will take a break and do nothing but the way I am, I seriously doubt it. For as hard as it was to run 1 mile on the first day, it seems that much easier to run 2 miles each and every night. Funny how that works…

Now that this week’s Weigh-In is all done, it’s time to recall what I did last week and make it a point not to repeat it. Let’s hope the same things don’t happen this week.

Gotta go!

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• Weekly Weigh-In #1; Phase 2: 202.5 lbs.
• Phase 2 Starting Weight: 203.3 lbs.
• Gain/loss of: -0.8 lbs.
• Pounds to Go: 12.5 lbs.
• Weight Loss to Date: 94.5 lbs.

The scale was acting funny this morning, fluctuating between all sorts of numbers. My weight for today is an average of all of them and for the first few days I’d say that’s not too bad. We’ll see how things pan out over the next few weeks.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, I’m going to do things a little different this time around just to shake things up. First and most notably I have decided to abandon my Weight Watchers Point Excel chart for the month, and there are a few reasons for this: a) I need something different and b) after listening to a great podcast the other day, I discovered the importance of BMR.

What is BMR? It’s your Basal Metabolic Rate, or the amount of calories you burn by simply doing nothing–even sleeping. No matter what you’re doing, you burn calories and how many you burn depends on your height, weight and age. (To determine your BMR, go here.) After determining what your BMR is, it’s important to know that that number–mine is 1954.49–is what your body needs in order to maintain your current weight. If you want to shed some weight, simply take in less than your recommended BMR or exercise some more. 

My next change also goes hand-in-hand with the BMR thing. I discovered a fantastic (and free) iPhone/iPod Touch app on the iTunes store called Lose It! This app is probably one of the best I’ve come across because it keeps track of everything: weight, calorie intake, activities/calories burned, goal date, and also has a thorough database of foods to choose from when entering what you’ve eaten. If it’s not there, you can create your own data for it and save it for future use.

In my case, I was allowed 1,637 calories–just slightly lower than my BMR. Calories are tallied up as you enter your food intake and the app determines how many calories you have left to consume to stay in your safe zone. And if you add activities, the appropriate number of calories is subtracted from your total. Can it get any simpler than that? I don’t think so!

And let me tell you: seeing intake in calories vs. Points is a real kick in the gut. 

On the Wii Fit front, I have chosen to run the Island Lap while holding 5 lb. dumbells in each hand. I started that last night and noticed a considerable difference while “jogging” as I sweated much more than usual. Also, I found a little hidden extra in the “jogging” portion of the game. If you follow the different colored dogs, you run at a swifter pace than following a standard Mii. I tried it and yes, it does seem much faster!

Finally, I had mentioned earlier a podcast I discovered so I thought I’d give it a mention. It’s called Fat 2 Fit and it’s pretty much a couple of guys talking weight loss on a human level. Nothing complicated; no degrees in anatomy required. You just listen to what they have to say about their progress, answer listener e-mail, get tips from others, and discover Web sites or other valuable information. (That’s how I found out about BMR!) It’s a good listen and I’d recommend it to anybody who wants to lose weight but doesn’t know where to start.

You can give the Fat 2 Fit podcast a listen here:

I think that’s enough for today. If you don’t hear from me the rest of the week, I’ll see you here next Wednesday. Stay focused!

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• Weekly Weigh-In #28: 199.9 lbs.
• Last week’s Weigh-In: 203.5 lbs.
• Gain/loss of: -3.6 lbs.
• Weekly average lost: 1.9 lbs.
• Weight loss to date: 97.2 lbs.

Don’t ask me how I got there so fast. Maybe I was just caught up in being so close that I just went nuts and really concentrated on reaching my goal.

Either way, I’m still at the 199.9 lb. mark and not terribly concerned about gaining back what I lost any time soon. If you recall way back on Weekly Weigh-In #7, I lost 3.9 lbs. for the week and only gained .5 lbs. a few weeks later. My next gain would be .9 lbs. on Week 17 and then 1 lb. on Week 27*, so there’s only been a fluctuation of a few pounds since beginning this whole thing and the dates have been pretty far apart.

Now, onto the next phase. As mentioned in the previous post, my new goal is 190 lbs. and for that I have set no time limit. I will take my time getting there even if it means losing a measly amount of weight each week. I want to get to 190 so that I have a little wiggle room between there and my original goal of 200 lbs. with the holidays coming (already if you can believe it). This will give me ample space to snack and eat some of the season’s best treats: pumpkin pie, pumpkin…anything, Christmas cookies, etc. And don’t forget those holiday parties…

So there you have it. But before I go, I’d like to extend a special thank you to Kimberly at LadyGypsy.net for congratulating me on my success. This is what blogs are all about: sharing links, getting the word out, networking. It’s bloody brilliant! Best of luck to you on reaching your weight loss goal, Kim, although I still fail to see why it’s necessary

See you all next time stick with it, ladies and gentlemen!

* I have all that info saved on my Excel chart for quick reference. Pretty good, eh?

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A week fighting off an illness definitely kept me from where I’d rather be right now, which is…

• Weekly Weigh-In #27: 203.5 lbs.
• Last week’s Weigh-In: 202.5 lbs.
• Gain/loss of: +1.0 lbs.
• Weekly average lost: 1.8 lbs.
• Weight loss to date: 93.6 lbs.

As stated yesterday, it was a bad week on just about every level: sick, not exercising, eating to gain some of my energy back. In short, it was not a lot of fun and concentrating on my weight loss was the furthest thing from my mind.

Here’s a breakdown of activities from last week:

• Monday: Worked half-day; no walk
• Tuesday: Called in sick, no walk
• Wednesday: Worked but only walked 1 mile since I was still sick
• Thursday: See Wednesday
• Friday: Went to lunch with co-workers; no walk
• Only did one night of Wii Fit during that week

So as you can see, gaining only one pound this week might have been a good thing as I could have probably gained more. But unlike Weekly Weigh-In #12 when I asked for a do-over because of a battle with gastroenteritis, I’m going to take this one and run with it.

Moving on. Even with those results, my current weight of 203.5 lbs. might as well be 235 lbs. I’ve been stuck in the 200s for about six weeks now and it’s getting difficult to shake them, even when not ill, so I’ve decided to make a change.

See Traineo my ticker on the right? In case you hadn’t noticed I changed my goal weight, therefore my “To Go” numbers got bumped up a little. I have altered my goal weight to be 190 lbs. instead of 200 lbs. for a reason: those last few pounds were taunting me to hell! No seriously, they were! Now that I’m so close to my goal, I find myself slipping a little bit now and then, making it seem absolutely unachievable. That says nothing of the weight I’ve lost since starting because, well, losing that much seemed easy compared to these last 2 or 3 pounds.

I decided that they were going to be the death of me so rather than carefully try to meet them, I decided to aggressively rip right through them. It’s kind of like that theory I’ve heard about breaking boards in karate: imagine yourself trying to hit through the board behind the board.

I’m no karate expert, so who knows if I’m even right on that, but it seems like a logical way to get past these few pounds: work beyond them.

Gotta go. See you later!

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I’m home today with a sick child so I’ll keep it brief:

• Weekly Weigh-In #26: 202.5 lbs.
• Last week’s Weigh-In: 204.1 lbs.
• Gain/loss of: -1.6 lbs.
• Weekly average lost: 1.9lbs.
• Weight loss to date: 94.6 lbs.

More later if I have the time but for now, that’s all I’ve got. I’m this much closer to my cheeseburger

See you later!

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I’ve got a little time before I have to get to work so here are the numbers. More stats and stuff later!

• Weekly Weigh-In #25: 204.1 lbs.
• Last week’s Weigh-In: 205.6 lbs.
• Gain/loss of: -1.5 lbs.
• Weekly average lost: 2.0 lbs.
• Weight loss to date: 93.0 lbs.

UPDATED 12:20 p.m. or so

So alright, it looks like this week’s loss makes up for last week’s rather lame 0.9 lbs. lost. This puts me back into my doctor-recommended goal of 1.5 lbs. to 2 lbs. per week, so despite the lame sentiments of a particular commentator, I’d say I’m doing just fine.

By the way, what was the point of that comment? Was it supposed to bring me down or something? FAIL!

And I reached yet another milestone: 93 lbs. lost! WOO HOO! Yeah, it’s not exactly 95 lbs. but at this point, any round number is worthy of celebration.

Oh, and I posted a little sticky at the top of the page for Yahoo! Shine readers that visit my blog. I have noticed a steady increase in traffic from my single post there and thought I’d let them know that there probably won’t be any more posts over there as it’s just too much work. I used to do it with my personal blog and MySpace before realizing that it usually requires more than a simple cut-and-paste command. I prefer to post everything here and know it will work rather than post it elsewhere and have to tweak it umpteen times before it’s the way I want it.

So if you’re here from Yahoo! Shine, welcome and thanks for visiting. I’m glad to have you here. I’d recommend, however, that you bookmark this blog or subscribe to my RSS feed via Google Reader or reader of choice.

Finally, here are some Wii Fit progress photos. As usual, keep in mind that Wii Fit–30 minutes a night of various workouts–is only part of my plan that also includes walking nearly 2 miles a day (about 30 minutes) and proper diet. Also take note that as I’ve said in the past, Wii Fit’s scale isn’t all that accurate.

And I can’t stress this enough: visit your doctor before starting any weight loss plan. I did; you should, too.

Click on images to embiggen:

• BMI at start: 33.11
• Current BMI: 29.19

Still high, I know. But I’m getting there. Now here’s the weight chart:

Wii Fit weight:

• Start (May 25, 2008): 230.3 lbs.
• Current: 203.9 lbs.

My real weight:

• Start (May 25, 2008): 231.0 lbs.
• Current: 204.1 lbs.

So as you can see, there are slight discrepancies between the two but sometimes they are even larger than that. Please don’t put 100% reliance into the Wii Fit “scale” as it’s nothing more than a tool. Buy a nice glass bottom scale for more accurate readings.

I think that’s all for now. Thank you to all who continue to visit and leave kind words. Those keep me going when things get tough, and I hope that my progress motivates you into losing weight the right way.

The journey is almost over–thanks for being a part of it!

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This week’s stats:

• Weekly Weigh-In #24: 205.6 lbs.
• Last week’s Weigh-In: 206.5 lbs.
• Gain/loss of: -0.9 lbs.
• Weekly average lost: 2.0 lbs.
• Weight loss to date: 91.4 lbs.

Labor Day, the summer’s last big holiday, is now a distant memory and I’m happy about that. It means that as far as excessive food consumption goes, it’s smooth sailing pretty much until Thanksgiving which is almost three months away. Of course Christmas is just a month after that so it’s time I get my act together!

With the holiday, this week’s results come as no surprise. I’m just glad to have lost what I did and not be on the plus side of things. I did weigh in nearly a pound lighter before the holiday but hey, my loss still keeps me at my recommended weekly average.

Speaking of which, my total loss for August was 6.4 lbs. which is slightly over the recommendation. That’s cool.

The buying of new clothes continues! Some of my size 40s are getting huge so I had to head to Target and hit the clearance racks. Unfortunately, their choice was pretty minimal but I did manage to find a few pairs of jeans for $6.24. Levi Strauss, too. They also had some Mossimo jeans on the rack for $24(!), but why anybody would buy Mossimo jeans for $24 instead of Levis for $6 is beyond me.

Speaking of clothes, I’m sad to say that my favorite Low Rider shirt (note: I was 218 lbs. in that picture) is getting too big as well. This was the shirt Ann had bought me years ago that I swore to her I would fit into one day. At the time of purchase I could only fasten two buttons on this size Large shirt. Today, the shirt is so baggy that it’s almost falling off of me, so I guess I needs to (reluctantly) replace it.

But I’m sure that since I’m now fitting into smaller sizes, I’ll easily be able find something not so fat-guyish.

See you later

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Week #23 is here!

• Weekly Weigh-In #23: 206.5 lbs.
• Last week’s Weigh-In: 208.7 lbs.
• Gain/loss of: -2.2 lbs.
• Weekly average lost: 2.0 lbs.
• Weight loss for August: 6.4 lbs.
• Weight loss to date: 90.6 lbs.

Well, it looks like I held up at 206.5 which is good enough for me this week. That’s a little over 2 lbs. lost so I’m happy about that.

UPDATED 12:27 p.m.: Ah, you gotta love scales, don’t you? Okay, maybe you don’t.

At the doctor’s office yesterday I weighed in at 204 lbs. but my bathroom scale measured me at 206.5 lbs.  And don’t even get me started on the accuracy of the Wii Fit “scale,” although sometimes I wish it were correct as it has me at around 200 lbs. No biggie; I’m getting there.

Speaking of Wii Fit, I haven’t gotten near it for at least three days and it’s not because its novelty has worn off. I just haven’t had time to do it. I know, I know, I’m always preaching that there are no excuses for not exercising but I had my reasons for not working Wii Fit into a few days:

• Saturday: Entertained a visiting friend and played Yahtzee until God-knows-when
• Sunday: Played with the kid all night
• Monday: Rode my bike 8+ miles before my physical

See? Legitimate reasons, one and all. But tonight I will return to it.

I’m starting to come up with a list of possible restaurants that I will want to eat at once I hit 200 lbs. Most of them are local burger joints (Yellow Basket in Carson–I’m looking at you!); some more well-known in the states. I’ve decided to weed out the more expensive/fancy places (Lucille’s BBQ, Islands, Red Robin*) because I want my first “bad” meal to have its roots in how I got to nearly 300 lbs. in the first place–by fast food. It’s my way of enjoying a rare greasy meal and giving a giant FU to it at the same time. But who really knows for sure where we’ll end up eating.

So there you have it. Plans are in the works. 6.5 lbs. to go. WOO HOO!

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*My plans may change should managers at any of these restaurants find it in their hearts to spot my family and friends a celebratory meal

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